Local News

It may have been a law since 1983, and observed every year on the third Monday in January since 1986, but in Williston it will be work as usual after the city council voted Tuesday night to not observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day
A federal holiday signed into law by Ronald Reagan, the day is observed by most governments in all 50 states and many businesses in the private sector.
Tuesday, Councilor Norm Fugate said he supported making it a city holiday after finding it omitted from this year’s paid holidays for city employees.

Five high school students got a lesson in how government works when the Levy County Commission roundly rejected their proposed resolution “intended to discourage the placement, sale, and delivery of candy flavored tobacco products to persons under the age of eighteen (18).”
Four of the five commissioners said they wanted the resolution rewritten because they did not think government should be telling retailers what to sell or not and that parents should be responsible for educating their children to stay away from such products.

An occupant of a singlewide manufactured home was injured Jan. 3 when the residence caught fire shortly before 5 p.m.
Three family pets–two birds and a dog–perished in the blaze that broke out on Third Ave, according to Williston Fire Chief Lamar Stegall.
Two of the home’s three residents were home at the time of the fire, Stegall said. The adult suffered burns and was transported to the hospital. He has since been released, the fire chief said. A child in the home was not injured.

Novice and experienced gardeners have an opportunity to hone gardening skills, share personal experience and meet folks of similar interest through the Florida Master Gardener program. Classes for 2012 Florida Master Gardener training will begin on Tuesday, Feb. 7 and will meet each Tuesday for eight consecutive weeks from 9:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. at the Levy Agricultural Center in Bronson, 625 North Hathaway Avenue, Alt. 27.

Levy County Sheriff Johnny Smith is not on the 2012 ballot seeking re-election, but that did not stop his rival in the 2008 election who is a candidate in the 2012 Republican primary from criticizing his performance.
Bobby McCallum, of Chiefland, one of two candidates for the Republican nomination for sheriff in the Aug. 14, 2012 primary, told the Chiefland Rotary Club Smith has been an “absentee sheriff.” and Sheriff’s Office employees have told him they are embarrassed to work there and he pledged to return the office’s honor.

The Williston Police Department is looking for anyone who may have witnessed an accident Monday, Dec. 26 around 11:50 a.m. at the intersection of Hwys. 41 and 121, near the Chevron gas station.
The vehicles involved were a blue Chrysler van and a gray 2011 Nissan.
If you saw this accident, please contact Investigator James Bond at 561-436-5155 as soon as possible.

While hundreds of people flock to the card section of a store and pore over the dozens of cards to send to loved ones for Christmas, Joyce Vickers is sitting with her feet propped up enjoying the stillness.
She doesn’t have to fight the crowds. She doesn’t have to read countless cards. She doesn’t have to spend a lot of money.
That’s because for the last 38 years, she and her sister, Gail Brower, have exchanged the same Christmas card–year in and year out.
She doesn’t know what really prompted it.